My enjoyment of the literary feel of the book and the tension – drew me in and carried me to about a third in, when the plot began to sag with repetition and sameness. It was then I noticed the Atwood literary formula, ie never use one metaphor when two or three will do, in the same paragraph.
Category: Literary Fiction Reviews
A review of The Grease Monkey’s Tale by Paul Burman
There’s no easy solution or happy ending. Instead there are motifs and stories that lead to other stories and characters that are built upon other characters. The ultimate journey here isn’t to a clean truth – there’s no such thing in The Grease Monkey’s Tale. Instead we end up with the strong sense that everything is story – that life itself between the pages or beyond the book is just another story: “the sound of riverbed pebbles chattering and grinding against the hushing of fast water. Hypnotic.”
A review of Mine-Haha, or, On the Bodily Education of Young Girls by Frank Wedekind
Wedekind well knows that extreme emotion represents a danger to its possessor as well as to those around him or her. It can easily be converted into (self) destructive rage. His characters in these two stories are respectively a convict and a prostitute, hence he’s not averse either to embracing the downtrodden and the wretched.
A review of Little Pieces: This Side of Japan by Michael Hoffman
That said and frankly acknowledged as a personal response, Hoffman has style and ingenuity that goes far towards compensating for the ubiquity of ghostly stuff. This book is part of the body of work from a distinguished author who deserves all the rewards of excellence. You will not go wrong to read it.
A review of Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
Jasper Jones remains a nobody – the silent, disappearing hero in Charlie’s life, but he is also heroic – the catalyst to change and growth. Although there are dark edges to Jasper Jones, this is a wonderful, beautifully written, positive story of personal transformation which lingers with the reader.
A review of Happy Baby by Stephen Elliott
We all of us choose what we do with our lives from a finite set of alternatives; and for Theo, in his darkest moments at any rate, love is not on the menu: ‘If I could love I would have loved by now.’ Happy Baby is about a person for whom love, as a possibility, has been taken away. It isn’t any kind of answer, it cannot be.
A review of The End of the Circle by Walter Cummins
These are bitter stories. All of the men, women, and children of the stories are imprisoned by circumstances. Redemption for the reader is in Cummins’s pitiless depiction of his doomed characters. Truth is what matters and he makes truth transcendent.
A review of Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
Parrot and Olivier in America is full of Carey’s humanism, coupled with an examination of the compelling power of Art that featured strongly in My Life As a Fake, coupled with deep seated explorations of identity, truth, friendship, and democracy. Above all, this is a wonderful, ribald, and satisfyingly powerful tale that takes the reader through many journeys.
A review of Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
Time’s Arrow is a brilliant work, in my opinion. In the first place, the time-reversal is done with great skill; and on this level, Time’s Arrow is certainly a tour de force. But I think the book is much more than that. The writing is powerful.
A review of Small Poisons by Catherine Edmunds
There are so many subtle parallels, transitions, symbols, and correspondences in this wonderful, rich novel. Edmund’s lighthearted romp creates a powerful impression of deep meaning, but the work is so funny and, at times, absurd, that you can’t help enjoying yourself.